Kunstraum, Düsseldorf
17/07/2018 - 22/07/2018
Launch of Ode (owed) to O (Wandelweiser editon, 2017) for Klangraum 2017
Ode (owed) to O concludes over 6 years of meandering around the infamous erotic novel Histoire d’O first published in 1954, under the pen name Pauline Réage. It consists of musical translation of re-composed texts that blend erotic literature, experimental writing and verbal scores, where the original story is tempered with in an attempt to release O from an inevitable end.
Alone together, you aloud to yourself, your mouth moving O, your voice to those. Echoes of O, unbound for moment, of O, of you. (score extract)
(Story of) with Antoine Beuger
(Story of) with Andre O. Moeller
O(nly) with John Eyles, Ryan Dohoney, Alex Mah, Andre O. Moeller, Assaf Gidron, Antoine Beuger
O(hh) with Tomma Galonska and John Eyles
PROGRAMME
(Story of) (25 mins)
performed by Emmanuelle Waeckerle (voice), Antoine Beuger (flute), Andre O. Moeller (objects).
Daily public reading of 10 to 15 phrases from Pauline Réage’s book Story of O (1954), chosing those where O is subject (as opposed to passive object), accompanied each time by one musician. It is impossible to alter the very graphic words of the infamous original story, yet one can attempt to change the way they are is consumed and shared.
O(nly) – (44 mins)
performed by John Eyles, Ryan Dohoney, Alex Mah, Andre O. Moeller (voices) Assaf Gidron (cello) Antoine Beuger (flute)
O is released from her story vocally while instruments play her as a note or chords. Voices and instruments are calling O, invoquing her again and again, as if inviting her to join them.
O(hh) (12 mins)
performed by Tomma Galonska and John Eyles
This final ode to O is composed of seven phrases from the original story which are gradually crumbling away, until only O remains before being breathed away.
The 3 works were also performed at Constellation, Chicago in April 2018 and café Oto in London in February 2018.
Ode (owed) to O double cd (Wandelweiser editon, 2017) is available here and on bandcamp here
Ode to O
A body of work (book, cd, text scores, performances, prints) based upon the infamous erotic novel Story of O, in an attempt to navigate a passage through this difficult literary work and its notorious yet little known history.
The work began as a series of private love letters handwritten by Anne Cécile Desclos to her lover Jean Paulhan. It was first published in French in 1954, under the pen name Pauline Réage, and the official English translation appeared in 1965.